New member to the boards. My first question

glockduck

June 26, 2008 10:54:18 PM

Greetings all~

I am very new to the world of computers. I have been a gamer since USAF days back in the 80's when the commadore 64 was the bomb. With that being said, I just purchased a new computer, and had a graphics card question, I hoped some of you more seasoned folks could help me with.

I just purchased a new HP Pavilion 9300t series. It is a huge upgrade from the 2001 Dell Insperon, that finally died a few weeks ago.

My HP came with an Intel Quad 2.66/ 4 gigs of ram and an Nvidia 8600GT. Dont get me wrong. The 8600 GT blows away the old ATI card I was used to, and is running WOW great. I am getting 40-60 fps on all settings at 'high' and 1680x1050 display, with a good deal of mods running as well. What I was looking at doing, was to try my hand at some more 'high' end games. Ones that would put a greater load on my system, than what the 8600GT can handle.

I was wanting to upgrade to a 8800 series card, but I am afraid my power supply that came stock with my PC would'nt be able to handle it. My HP came with a 350 w. power supply.

Do I need to upgrade my power supply prior to upgrading my card? Or would this power supply be acceptable? And, how do I determine how much more power I need?

Like I mentioned before, I am not very familiar with computers or the basic vocabulary. I have enjoyed reading some of the treads here on this forum, and what little knowledge I have gained over the past week, is from what I have read here.

I will say this. I can see how someone can get serious about their systems and building or 'Moding' their own custom machines. This has been a very entertaining and intreging information. I could see myself getting the courage up to build my own gaming monster in time. Granted...that is if my wife didnt kill me first.

Thank you for you help, and go easy on the new guy. I realize this may be a very basic question to some of you. Thank you againi for your time.

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marvelous211

June 26, 2008 11:04:28 PM

You should upgrade your power supply. Perhaps a 9600gt can handle without a power supply upgrade but you are still pushing it with quad core.

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ghstbstr65

June 26, 2008 11:12:10 PM

What your power supply can handle is not only in the wattage but also in the amperage. The amps should be listed on the side of the power supply. You want the 12 volt amperage. Without that it is kind of hard to suggest a card.But since it is a Dell power supply it probably is pretty low and should be upgraded before a newer card is added. I was gonna recommend the 9600gt with that power supply but like the previous poster said you will be pushing it.

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frozenlead

June 26, 2008 11:12:45 PM

I agree, upgrade that PSU. a decent 500W model or so should fit the bill, 600W or so for future upgradability.

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emp

June 26, 2008 11:20:12 PM

Welcome, if you're looking for a high quality, affordable power supply then I would recommend this as the absolute minimum. (If you want you could spend $10-20 more for it's 550W sibling)

CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply 90 - 264 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Now that that's covered, depending on how much you would like to spend on your graphics card then we'd be able to give you an advice.

If your budget is ~$100

MSI N9600GSO-T2D384 OC GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB 192-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

If your budget is ~$150

GIGABYTE GV-NX88T256HV1 GeForce 8800 GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

If your budget is ~$200

SAPPHIRE 100242L Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

If your budget is ~$300 or more

POWERCOLOR AX4870 512MD5-H Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

If you can buy the HD 4870 then I'd definitely recommend it, however if you're tight on money then the HD 4850 is the price/performance king, definitely worth the $200 tag. The 9800GTX, GTX 260, and 280 cards are not worth considering, since the general consensus is that even though the 9800GTX is good, the HD 4850 is an all-around better performing card, even reaching the GTX 260 levels at times, while the HD 4870 reaches the GTX 280 performance levels at times, usually hovering above the GTX 260.

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glockduck

June 27, 2008 5:59:50 PM

Thank you for the help. I am greatful.

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romulus47plus1

June 28, 2008 1:04:23 AM

Welcome to Toms!

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dragonsprayer

June 28, 2008 1:10:44 AM

glockduck said:

Greetings all~

I am very new to the world of computers. I have been a gamer since USAF days back in the 80's when the commadore 64 was the bomb. With that being said, I just purchased a new computer, and had a graphics card question, I hoped some of you more seasoned folks could help me with.

I just purchased a new HP Pavilion 9300t series. It is a huge upgrade from the 2001 Dell Insperon, that finally died a few weeks ago.

My HP came with an Intel Quad 2.66/ 4 gigs of ram and an Nvidia 8600GT. Dont get me wrong. The 8600 GT blows away the old ATI card I was used to, and is running WOW great. I am getting 40-60 fps on all settings at 'high' and 1680x1050 display, with a good deal of mods running as well. What I was looking at doing, was to try my hand at some more 'high' end games. Ones that would put a greater load on my system, than what the 8600GT can handle.

I was wanting to upgrade to a 8800 series card, but I am afraid my power supply that came stock with my PC would'nt be able to handle it. My HP came with a 350 w. power supply.

Do I need to upgrade my power supply prior to upgrading my card? Or would this power supply be acceptable? And, how do I determine how much more power I need?

Like I mentioned before, I am not very familiar with computers or the basic vocabulary. I have enjoyed reading some of the treads here on this forum, and what little knowledge I have gained over the past week, is from what I have read here.

I will say this. I can see how someone can get serious about their systems and building or 'Moding' their own custom machines. This has been a very entertaining and intreging information. I could see myself getting the courage up to build my own gaming monster in time. Granted...that is if my wife didnt kill me first.

Thank you for you help, and go easy on the new guy. I realize this may be a very basic question to some of you. Thank you againi for your time.

take it back and email me for a good computer -
dell vs an hp is like hamburger vs a hot dog a chris ruth steak house

your system is junk

350w psu is junk, the computer was made in a foreign country by slave labor or at a foxacon plant in usa most likely employing illegal immigrants to build it for $6 an hour

most likely had 5-5-5 ddr667 ram not 4-4-3 ddr800

the mobo is junk
you got a low end gpu

yes it was cheap but upgrading its really a bad move - if you can only afford a best buy system so be it. but do not waste any more money with upgrading it.

adding ground fillet mignon the hot dog or hamburg still makes it a hot dog or hamburger and it tastes the same with out the extra prime meat and even if cooked at ruth chris and served with a pad of butter on 500 degree plate!

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dragonsprayer

June 28, 2008 1:17:38 AM

frozenlead said:

I agree, upgrade that PSU. a decent 500W model or so should fit the bill, 600W or so for future upgradability.

dumb move!

you start dumping money into a dell or hp you end up with only good thing was the cpu and windows coa

do not waster your money

it still bad case not designed for cooling a good video card

the mobo can not be pushed so you can get 3.6gh you can get out about each and every q6600

total waste to upgrade!

i used to mod dells and hps and after years of doing it, we came to conclucion it was cheaper to start over and ebay the dell or hp

start with the gpu then you need a psu, soon the ram sucks then the mobo has not options - what are you left with?

i hate to see a service man go down this road!

i sell a used system for less and wake up and feel good - if i read about the problems your having after wasting time and money on the psu and gpu then i will not be able sleep wondering why i did not offer you one of our used trade in on properly designed system.

IMHO!

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